In-person classes Sunday February 3 10:30am to 1pm, and Monday February 4, 7-9pm

Show

New Stars course show is Saturday, February 9, starting at 530pm.

We also have three Seasoned Stars shows, on Wednesday February 6, Thursday February 7, and Friday February 8 all starting at 7pm. Tickets are here.

Where

In-person classes, on the University of Melbourne campus.

Online via Zoom

The show will be at the Butterfly Club.

How much

Regular rate: 550 AUD.

Special theme

This course is proud to be part of the Sustainable Living Festival for the second time. As such, we are looking for participants to tackle at least one of the following topics in some way in their sets and make it funny (we'll help you):

- Raising awareness about the dangerous climate impacts and risks

- Presenting a solution that is part of the rapid transition to 'below zero emissions'

and/or

-Proposing ways to mobilise large numbers of people for a safe climate transition

For whom Change agents, sustainability & CSR professionals, humanitarian workers, and anyone else trying to make a positive difference in the world.

If you cancel up to one week before the course starts, you’ll get a total refund. If you cancel after that or during the course, we refund you up to 50% of your fee if you are under halfway through the course, or if you are beyond that, we invite you to re-take the course again.

For both public and in-organisation courses:

How many classes of a course can you miss? Ideally none. We understand that sometimes things come up that make missing a class unavoidable. If you are going to miss a class, tell your facilitator. You are able to miss up to 2 of the first 4 classes in a course, as long as you keep up with the homework and you work with the facilitator to keep on track. The final 2 classes are mandatory as is the show.

Sometimes, and very rarely, there is a mismatch between what we are trying to nurture in the course, and a participant involved. If this is the case, it is our call to invite a person to leave and revert to the refund policies above/below.

For in-organisation courses:

If individual participants from an in-organisation course cancel up to two weeks before the course starts, there is no penalty. If a participant cancels after that, they must refund the organisation personally for their course fee.

Paying for your place on our course

Click 'Buy now' to book your place. (What happens when you book? You will receive a nice confirmation email from us, with more details about the course, within 12 hours. Usually a lot faster.) . Prefer to wire us the funds instead? Email us here.

Please note that the maximum number of classes you can miss are two, IF you keep up with the homework. Beyond that, we will suggest that you defer to a future course.

Humour is so important to our psychological well being, especially when we face difficult and often overwhelming concepts. Sometimes what we need is for someone to speak the truth about how hard the human side to all this is, while being wildly funny.

I do highly engaging conference keynotes.

Email me.

And so do some of our awesome alumni

Subject matter experts from around the world

We can put together a few wonderful, and very funny subject matter experts for your conference.

Tempted?

Email me.

A few examples of course participants doing stand up for the first time about ideas that matter

We create inspiring courses where you discover a safe environment and new friends. Where you develop and hone stand up material, in a loving, clear way, on stuff that matters.

Shows

We showcase our course participants, as well as the best of today's and tomorrow's stand up comedy on sustainability issues.

Connections

We help connect alumni scientists, sustainability experts, science communicators and others from around the world with each other.

Conferences

We offer our stand up comics to major sustainability events and conferences.

Success stories

Our participants include improvisers, comedians, NASA climate scientists, medical researchers, architects, military servicemen and women, and people like you. Here's what some of them say:

PETER, THE NASA CLIMATE SCIENTIST SAYS...

"I need to reach people about the deadly serious impacts of climate change. But I don't want to drive them away with gloom and doom. Belina and my wonderfully supportive classmates helped me discover the hilarity in my work and connect with the audience about something that really matters, to me and the world."

KRISTY, THE MILITARY SERVICEWOMAN SAYS

"I absolutely loved the supportive atmosphere and the we're all in it together mentality that was built into our class... I was able to create a solid five minute set and muster the courage to get up on that stage alone. Thank you Belina for starting my stand up journey on a high note!"

MATT, THE COMPUTER ENGINEER SAYS

"... gave me the confidence to get up in front of people, the tools for success in stand up and to break into doing improv. Belina is just an amazing teacher..."

Why do we get out of bed in the morning?

We help people who do good in the world to do that better.

We help people to combine stand up comedy, playfulness, content about stuff that matters, a focus on positivity and inclusion, and love.

When combined, these are wildly powerful forces to get important information across.

Join us and stand up for things that matter.

The SusStandUp Team

Let's play!

BelinaFounder, Director

Belina began her stand up and improv in 1996 through classes and performances in New York City, continuing her studies at the Loose Moose School of Improvisation. She performs in Baltimore, NY. London and - soon - Berlin. She is a Director of the global Applied Improvisation Network and a consultant with an MBA. Belina spends most of her time teaching social entrepreneurs and business people improvisation skills to bring about a more delightful, sustainable form of business.

Steve

Advisor/Connector, UK

Steve is a geek comedian and founder of Science Showoff (http://www.scienceshowoff.org) and Bright Club (http://www.brightclub.org). He's trained hundreds of people to be funny about science and hosts gigs all over the UK where clever folk get to make funny for the first time.

Photo credit: Ed Moore

AdamAdvisor, GermanyAdam is a professional actor, improviser and stand-up for corporate audiences. He has been performing, teaching and directing since the mid 1990s, mostly in central Europe.With a background in psychology, he is also a presentation coach, consultant and adjunct professor who uses techniques stolen from theater to help companies and governments all over the world make their staff and customers smile.

Katie

Performer/Advisor

Katie Goodman is an award-winning musical comic, improviser, actress, author, creative coach, and social activist. She is the author of “Improvisation For The Spirit: Live a More Creative, Spontaneous, and Courageous Life Using the Tools of Improv Comedy.” Her comedy music videos can be seen, having amassed over 1.5 million hits on Youtube. www.KatieGoodman.com

Peter

Advisor, Climate Scientist

Peter is the founding director of NASA’s Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Office, supporting the North American Carbon Program (www.nacarbon.org); ABoVE, the Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment, a major field campaign (http://above.nasa.gov); and the Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Focus Area at NASA HQ (http://cce.nasa.gov). He's also an improviser and was part of our first show in Baltimore of Sustainable Stand Up.

Pablo

Advisor, Climate Scientist

Pablo is Associate director for research and innovation at the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre. As a researcher and consultant on climate, disasters and development he has worked with over thirty organizations in more than 50 countries. His current work addresses the use of innovative tools for climate risk management – including applied improvisation for learning and managing complex dynamic systems.

Prescott

Green building Expert/Improviser, Baltimore

Prescott is a sustainability innovator by day, and talented improvisation performer and show director by night.